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Sequestration and the Military

Sequestration is part of the Budget Control Act that mandates $1.2 trillion in cuts across federal agencies to include $500 million to the military over the next decade. Congress wrote sequestration into legislation to provide motivation for Congress to agree to a deficit reduction plan to replace the federal spending cuts. When they failed to reach such an agreement, sequestration was triggered on March 1.

The sequester will stretch across all four services of the military to include family programs. Only pay and the Department of Veterans Affairs have been exempted by President Obama from the cuts associated with sequestration. Military leaders have little flexibility in applying the cuts because the law mandates the Defense Department absorb a 9 percent cut across all programs.

WASHINGTON -- Dropping the Army's end strength to 450,000 would require the involuntary separation of about 14,000 Soldiers, the Army's vice chief of staff told lawmakers.
Gen. Daniel B. Allyn testified March 25 before the Senate Armed Services subcommittee on readiness. He warned that sequestration would have a detrimental effect on the force.... more

WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE -- The return of sequestration would impact "every part" of the Air Force while the service branch has called for an end to downsizing the number of airmen in ranks and pushes to restore readiness and modernize an aging fleet, the service branch's top civilian leader said.
In an exclusive interview Thursday with ... more

WASHINGTON -- Challenges caused by limited resources, fiscal uncertainty and the changing nature of threats have forced the military's special operations forces to operate creatively, the Defense Department's top special operations officials told Congress yesterday.
Michael D. Lumpkin, assistant secretary of defense for special operations and l... more

WASHINGTON -- "Today, just 33 percent of our brigades are ready, when our sustained readiness rate should be closer to 70 percent, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno told lawmakers, regarding the lingering effects sequestration has already had on the Army.
Army Secretary John M. McHugh and Odierno appeared before the Senate Committee on Appro... more